Hunting for food...does it justify the cost?

[lorihadams]

We have public land here too. My husband has also gotten a few requests to bow hunt residential areas where deer are a problem for "city folk" and guns aren't permitted.

If you haven't hunted before then you may want to talk to neighbors that do and ask if you can go with them to learn more about it cause it involves more that just going in the woods and killing something. Deer have very definite patterns of movement and you don't necessarily have to hunt corn fields to kill a deer. That way you learn about it from someone, get land access for free, and may get to take home some meat in the process.

My husband also hunts ducks and geese and has a guide service here in VA and he has lots of farm contacts where they call and beg him to come kill them. They can tear up farmland pretty quickly.

My biggest piece of advice is to ALWAYS wear blaze orange in the woods and learn how to safely and effectively use whatever weapon you plan on using.

 

[Beekissed]

Good advice!

If the main goal is to procure a lot of meat for little money, then the idea has a basic flaw....there are steps to becoming a GOOD hunter that values the process and insures the success and safety of your hunt. Hunter knowledge and safety are key to success and so is learning about your prey and how best to hunt them,as Lori mentioned. You are more likely to find someone to let you hunt on their land if you can display some common sense and have a good reputation in the field. It even helps to have pics of your previous kills and even references from farmers who have let you hunt in the past.

If you are out their blamming away at the first brown thing that moves you will not be invited on anyone's property. If you trespass and think the NO HUNTING signs do not apply to you, you will probably be escorted off the property at the point of a gun. If you think it is just taking a gun out and piling up meat, it is more likely that you will get nothing at all but an empty wallet and huge frustration.

 

[lorihadams]

I was thinking more along the lines of asking to hunt WITH someone on their property...like in the same blind.

We have taken lots of newbies with us in our two man blinds and it did wonders for their confidence in the woods. It is very calming to have someone sitting there next to you to answer your questions in the moment. It also helps to have someone walk you through all the ins and outs of hunting game. My husband and I look at it from a teaching standpoint. He does lectures on hunting all the time and is more than willing to sit down with someone and help them learn how to do something one on one. He recently did a seminar for Virginia Waterfowlers Association and he sat down with a gentleman that had suffered a stroke recently but still wanted to hunt. He has some paralysis issues on one side of his face but my husband worked with him for over 4 hours adjusting his goose call and trying different techniques to get the various calls down right for him.

His half brother lives next door to us and has had his bow for almost a year but had never killed anything with it. My husband went with him, scouted a location, helped set up/build a ground blind, and hunted with him the first time. He had killed deer with a rifle before but never with a bow. They went twice and he was with him when he killed his first deer with a bow on their second time out. Now BIL has the confidence to do it himself. That being said, he has shot his bow in the yard and at the range for the last 8 months to hone his skills.

I guess what I was suggesting was that you try to find a mentor.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's what I'm planning on doing. I've hunted, but never had any luck. Didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. Hubby was going to teach me, but he never did, and he no longer has the interest. So, I plan on finding a mentor.

 

[hqueen13]

I suppose I'll get there some day. My other half's father used to hunt, so he has done it but it has been YEARS. Too bad I can't do it here cause I could do it off my back porch! They come so close it kills me!!
When I finally learn I'll probably cry and puke the first time I have to deal with a dead animal, LOL. Hopefully I'll get over that...

 

[Denim Deb]

I'll admit I did almost pass out when someone showed me how to clean a rabbit. But since then, I've castrated a rat and done my own chickens, so I'm getting there. Fish don't bother me. I grew up cleaning fish.

 

[~gd]

That's just nuts!

Are you commenting on my post? If so could you be more specific? Not mad just confused!

 

[Denim Deb]

That's just nuts!

Are you commenting on my post? If so could you be more specific? Not mad just confused!

I'm not saying you're nuts. It's nuts that someone could be so stupid as to hunt on someone's front lawn. But then again, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. We've had people scale a fence to shoot deer in an enclosed pen.

 

[Bettacreek]

Sometimes it helps to just take time to walk around in the woods, before ever going out to hunt. I grew up in the mountains, so behavior of the animals is fairly well common knowledge for me. I used to spend hours upon hours in the woods tracking animals as a kid. It also helps to learn how to sit still, which I personally have a hard time doing. :/

 

[lorihadams]

I shot 3 deer off the porch....2 when I was pregnant with my daughter and one when I was pregnant with my son. They wouldn't let me climb up in a tree so I took what I could get.